Save Me
by Kiryume
Summary: Nasch vowed to protect Yuuma three times. (Sharkbaitshipping, not really spoilerish.)


_Here I am lost, in your eyes to be found again,  
'Cause you've changed my life today._

Nasch vowed to protect Yuuma three times.

The first one was completely by chance. Nasch stood alone in his throne room lazily looking into the mirror he used to check onto the other lords (and keep an eye on Vector). Alit and Gilag were busy dueling each other with playful taunts and laughter, and Mizael was speeding down the halls to get rid of Vector – not an easy task seeing that said Barian teleported back next to Mizael no matter where his target went.

Durbe was archiving some books he'd collected from the human world with Merag playing the harp in another corner of the room they were in. Things were peaceful and Nasch was happy that they could relax amidst the tensions beginning to grow between them and the Astral world.

There wasn't much else to do there so Nasch settled with taking a walk to tone down his own worries; it was easy after seeing everyone else was well and he could forget for a while about his duties and the unavoidable incoming war.

He was walking without direction, letting his steps guide him towards whatever way pulled at his soul in the crystal hallways. The palace was huge and there were rooms and secrets that even _he_ didn't know despite having been there for longer than the others. It was his home, his creation, and it made sense that the corridors were so mysterious and intricate. The palace had been modeled after his soul and it only made Nasch realize how little he knew about his own persona, and how many things he wanted hidden.

A spiral staircase he'd never seen before appeared in front of him and Nasch stared at it for a long time, not able to get rid of the feeling that it something was calling for him. At some point he was ascending towards the top, the force urging him to go on stronger and stronger with each step. His other sensations went numb until it was the only thing left. Nasch reached their end and was greeted by a shining door that was wordlessly inviting him in.

He touched the handle and retracted his hand back almost immediately, intrigued by the burn marks left on his fingertips which surprisingly didn't hurt. They were rather pleasing, and when he grabbed the handle again with more confidence and allowed it to fill him with the _hope_ that it was emanating. It was strange. Nasch didn't know there could be such a bright and needed sensation, one that he began to crave and wondered if there was more behind the door. He braced himself and opening, getting surrounded in light which offered him the same hopeful aura. It took over him and washed away his consciousness together with any speck of awareness he had left.

When the light died off and Nasch opened his eyes he was quick to notice two things – first, it wasn't cold anymore, and second he was in the strangest of rooms (at least it looked like a room). He wasn't in the Barian world anymore that was for sure. Nothing was made out of the familiar crystal and rocks that characterized his home and the only answer he could find was that he'd somehow made it into the human realm.

It was his first time there as he'd never had any real reason to drop by. Durbe sometimes did so to get books or study human behavior for future reference, and in rarer occasions Mizael accompanied him to 'have Vector stop bugging him for a while' but that was about it with Barian journeys to earth. They held no interest in it.

Nasch looked around to study where he was. It was a bright room, the curtains wide open to let light flow in the room and keep it bright. The walls were a very faint orange color and the furniture ranged from white to soft crème; it radiated peace and calmness and he thought it was beautiful. Those were tones and colors his world greatly missed. In the middle of it there was a crib, and Nasch approached it curiously. He removed the thin curtains around it to look inside and a human baby looked at him with wide eyes from it. There was a good while of silence until the child began to giggle and struggle, smiling and Nasch and moving around a lot wanting to be picked up.

Nasch stood there dumbfounded for a while not knowing what to do next. If the child's parents entered the room it would be a huge problem, but he didn't sense any other presence in the house and after much pondering he picked the kid up in his arms awkwardly. Small hands pulled at his hair and Nasch almost put him back again in annoyance, but then their gazes interlocked one more time. And then Nasch saw it.

The exact same light as the door he came through, the same _hope_ that had called to him and brought him into this world. There had to be a deeper meaning beyond it, so he ran his fingers through the child's rare hair only to have him calm down and relax all of the sudden under Nasch's touch. They made each other company like that for several minutes before Nasch closed his eyes and nuzzled their cheeks with affection. Something about that child was special, and he could sense that their futures were tied together; no, better said that whoever the kid was, he _was_ his future, and a future filled with hope.

He placed him back inside the crib and stroked the pink cheek, humming him one of Merag's lullabies to send him back to sleep. There was a connection between them, and at that exact moment Nasch made a silent promise to take care of the kid and get to see what was it that tied them so much.

Once he was sure the human was in the land of dreams, he opened a portal back to his throne room where no one seemed to have missed his presence or even notice he'd been gone. Nasch sat down and closed his eyes to think. From then on he made several visits back to his house and learned more about Tsukumo Yuuma (he found out that was his name) and blessed the kid every time he did.

Nasch vowed to protect Yuuma, but the first time he failed. Yuuma's parents disappeared without him being able to prevent it, and Merag and he got killed before he could properly fulfill his promise.

* * *

The second time he had no memory of his first promise or who Yuuma was, nor of any previous encounter between them. It was when Nasch met him as Kamishiro Ryouga in a duel for a (kind of lame) friend's deck. He paid no attention to Yuuma at first and ignored him, pushed him away with all his might until Yuuma crashed in his human life again.

Yuuma tried to save Kamishiro Ryouga, save _him_ from the spiral of destruction and revenge he'd plunged in. At that point he couldn't reject it anymore, because a part of his human heart held the memory of that spark of hope in Yuuma's eyes and seeing it awoke the desire to move on in him. Ryouga saw just like Nasch before him that somewhere in Yuuma lied his future.

Unaware of his first mistake, he promised to be there for Yuuma once again – he didn't let anyone know, of course, not even Yuuma but he was always there for him when he was needed. Dueled by his side. Supported him from the shadows. Brought his fighting spirit back when Yuuma was on the verge of losing it even if he risked his own health for it. He allowed to be used, to be trampled with by others only to see Yuuma triumph and keep saying _kattobingu_ with a smile no matter what.

Ryouga Kamishiro didn't know why he could control Chaos, why he could work around with a free mind after his first encounter with Yuuma but it was to his advantage. He pretended to be brainwashed, pretended to be driven by hatred again and again because it created that spark of hope and will into Yuuma and thus into him.

Following Yuuma around without raising suspicion was hard, and it got more complicated along the way; he still managed and it was a fully rewarding experience. Yuuma liked Ryouga, wanted him as his friend and at times it felt as if their relationship was deeper than that. They kissed one time before reaching the last ruins to visit as they were having a discussion about how worried they were about each other and kept it a secret. He had kissed Yuuma and they were somehow together, that was Ryouga's treasure.

Ryouga vowed to protect Yuuma, but he failed as well. He failed when he recovered his memories as Nasch but not the most important of them. He did it when instead of following his heart and doing what he truly considered right lied to himself and built a false destiny around him. His biggest error was throwing Yuuma away with all that he meant (all that _they_ meant).

They went against each other at war – no, Yuuma was never his enemy, only he had seen it that way and refused to witness the truth. In spite of having one last fight as companions, he called their fate as enemies inevitable and challenged him to a duel. Nasch failed to protect Yuuma when he lost and accepted that he was to die.

* * *

The third time he did it was when Yuuma needed it the most but when he was there the least. Nasch watched from a safe distance, floating behind a tree, and called Yuuma's name repeatedly for the tenth time that morning. Hundredth that week. And probably millionth that month.

Of course he wasn't dumb and knew that Yuuma would never answer his call since he couldn't be seen nor heard, but he never gave up. He wanted Yuuma to know that he was there for him still, that Nasch, _Ryouga_, whatever Yuuma preferred to name him was still a part of his life. It was all a useless struggle; it had been so for years.

After Yuuma won their duel and re-wrote the world bringing everyone back, Nasch was offered the choice as well; he'd rejected it immediately, thinking he wasn't worth it and tired of everything enough to give up on a new future. At that time he hadn't thought about Yuuma or what it would mean for him, but he was soon to regret his unchangeable choice.

He saw Yuuma break in the rain when he realized that Nasch wasn't coming to him. It gripped his heart because that was the first time he saw Yuuma into such suffering; it was worse than the time he lost Astral, worse than any other time Nasch had betrayed Yuuma and left him alone despite his promises.

In the years that followed Nasch attempted to mend what he'd done wrong the best he could. He'd whisper in Yuuma's ear, try hug him whenever Yuuma murmured his name at night. It did nothing at that point for any of them, but he wasn't going to mess up that time as well.

Yuuma was sad all the time at first. He avoided everyone else and locked himself in his room for weeks before he started to come out again. Perhaps it was out of his own strength or maybe at some point he'd heard Nasch tell him to stop acting so idiotically and _move_ it already.

He watched him begin to interact with others again and recover the smile he used to wear – maybe it wasn't too much to consider that he was helping with his presence, known or not, but Nasch felt that he was finally doing something for Yuuma. He got prouder when he realized he could influence certain things and moved dangerous things out of Yuuma's way, messed with cash registers so he'd have to pay less for his food and even sneaked out a thing or two leaving them in Yuuma's way for him to find.

It was fine like that, Nasch could take it. Yuuma was most important for him and if he was well, Nasch could find a tiny bit of happiness too even if he couldn't physically share those goods moments with him. That stung. It hurt and burnt into him, the punishment for his idiocy was worse than he'd imagined; he witnessed Yuuma grow, fall in love with someone else and do with them what Nasch wanted Yuuma to do with him. He burned with jealousy and still didn't leave Yuuma's side in spite of him having who to rely on.

One day he would hold Yuuma close once more and talk to him about the hope and future he'd seen that morning years ago in baby Yuuma's eyes. The connection that tied them. That Yuuma wasn't supposed to feel that with anyone else but him. Now Nasch's hopes were all cracked and his future belonged to someone else.

Nasch vowed to protect Yuuma, but it was a lost cause when he let someone else do it in his place.

Nasch vowed to protect Yuuma three times, and three times he failed.


End file.
